The big DRM mistake

The big DRM mistake
Scott Granneman, 2006-03-01

Digital Rights Managements hurts paying customers, destroys Fair Use rights, renders customers' investments worthless, and can always be defeated. Why are consumers and publishers being forced to use DRM?

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-01
Anonymous (1 replies)

Oh this takes me back. I bought a "copy-protected" audio CD once. It would not play in my regular player at all because of the "protection" so I found a CD-ROM (actually a CD writer) to make proper copy of the CD and burned one that worked in my regular player. Took me about one hour the find the pr...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-03
Anonymous (1 replies)

But why? Phone the company and ask for support. Keep phoning. Take it back to the store and complain. These things cost the companies money -- if customers work-around things themselves then the companies who inflict this pain don't feel any pain themselves and have no incentive to stop inflicting t...

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Re: Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-06
Anonymous (1 replies)

These things cost the consumer even more money, because it eats away your spare time, and spare money, to even get through to the "correct" people when complaining....

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Re: Re: Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-13
Prabhat Sharma

So what are we supposed to do... Don't even complain... I would like to complain, get the things sorted and ask the management of the company to reimburse me for the time and money that cost me doing this (I know this is hell lot diificult to do do than it is to say). But we've got to take a call an...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-01
Anonymous (3 replies)

So what can we do to change this behaviour? What are the solutions?...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-10-31
Anonymous

We're forgetting something in this debate. Record companies don't MAKE music, musicians do. And they will carry on making music even without the rocord companies. Most musicians would be better off without them anyway. The record companies are becoming obsolete, they only distribute music, and over ...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous

Seems that copyright holders, especially of digital media, have taken the stance that everyone is guilty (of copyright violation) until proven innocent. Nice. Way to run rough-shod all over people's rights. So, the anwer to your question of what we can do is actually very easy. Vote with your wa...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

The same answer I give when complained to that gas is too expensive. DON'T BUY IT! Did Scott take back the DRM'd cd? Not in the article, then he's just whining and the DRM is really ok.
Get out and create something. Go to school and learn something new. I just got done with a welding class. I lea...

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Re: Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

Actually most publishers have an agreement with sellers that prevents the returning of opened "goods." So he can't take it back and he's just been screwed over....

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Re: Re: Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-03
Anonymous

The product is defective. Refusal to accept the return would be a violation of the Universal Commercial Code....

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AAC is "crappy" ? 2006-03-14
Anonymous

You must not be an itunes user. AAC is significantly higher quality than MP3. Don't like the bitrate? Change it. You can't do that for the apple store songs you buy, but anything you record yourself can be. I imagine you're claiming that OggVorbis or some other format is superior, but there's an Ogg...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-17
Paul

Great post! I completely agree with your sentiments on DRM, and as a New Yorker lover I too wish the Complete New Yorker wasn't so crippled. As others have pointed out, the DRM used to prevent copying the DVDs to a hard drive is inane. If I wanted to pirate the collection I could just copy the DVD...

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Efficient markets are the real problem here 2006-03-21
Morten Clausen

The funny thing is that the problem for RIAA, MPAA etc. is not really violations of copyright (it happens but not enough to cause a 20% decline in profits) but that the markets have become MUCH more efficient with the communication available through the Internet. This means they can no longer act in...

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Please don't call it Digital "RIGHTS" Management... 2006-04-11
Rick Stockton

When you let your opponents frame the legal question, you've already lost.

Whenever referring to "DRM", we (pople who want to defend fair use rights) should introduce it as "Digital Restrictions Management"... because that's what it is.

Then add, but only as an aside, 'labeled by some Companie...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-05-13
yes, new yorker can be copied to hard drive. see this. (1 replies)

With the original New Yorker magazine DVD installation, the program
requires you to swap DVDs everytime you want to see an issue.
That is annoying. Instead, you may want to install all the
New Yorker magazine directly to your hard drive and read off
the hard drive without having to swap DVDs. ...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-05-16
Anonymous

The real secret of DRM 2006-11-04
Follow the Money

The DRM in question is obviously only really useful against those who wouldn't bother cracking it anyway (for the most part). It is totally ineffective against those who actually want to crack it. However, this is **still OK** with the music distribution industry because it gives them a legal hamm...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-12-02
Anonymous fool

DRM is messed up stuff. Time for a recap Methinks.
For the arts and especially music, the twentieth century created an odd and temporary
economic distortion because distribution and mass production combined to create the "big and easy profit" we know as the modern music industry.

Please con...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-12-02
Anonymous

It's all about control. Most people are not even aware that the mainstream media and entertainment industries are owned and directed by a relatively small group of financial powers. They are not concerned with loosing money from "piracy"; they are concerned with implementing the agenda of the new ...

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The big DRM mistake 2007-01-29
The View from Downunder

Finding the alternatives can be difficult, especially if they are in another country. So two places to get DRM Free / Free quality music without breaking the law from Australia.
http://www.triplejunearthed.com/
http://www.mp3.com.au/
These are two really good reasons why record companies are on t...

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The big DRM mistake: Digital Rip-off Management 2008-05-23
Anonymous

I have consistenly termed DRM a rip-off.
And not yet taken out copyright on Digital Rip-off Management, so use it!...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-01
Tom Arnold (1 replies)

Kudos, Scott, for voicing these frustrations that I'm sure the vast majority of us have experienced in recent years.

I think you hit upon the main purpose of the DRM, which I feel is intended to be just enough of a pain in the @ss that the average joe can't (or doesn't bother with) getting around...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Julian Bond (1 replies)

"the main purpose of the DRM, which I feel is intended to be just enough of a pain in the @ss that the average joe can't (or doesn't bother with) getting around..."

Actually no. The real purpose of DRM is to grab and mantain market share by locking in the customers.

Just Say No To DRM. m'kay?...

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Re: Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-03
Tom Arnold

"The real purpose of DRM is to grab and mantain market share by locking in the customers."

Yeah, but isn't that what ALL businesses everywhere want? It doesn't seem too far outside the norm to me. At least, that's what those TRUTH tv spots lead me to believe about tobacco companies....

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-01
PCS Consulting

Excellent article and provides plenty of food for thought. Consumers and publishers are being forced to use DRM because legislation provides for its use. The DMCA is inherently backward legislation set up to protect the rich from the poor people. The only way to defeat DRM technologies is to opt out...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-01
John (2 replies)

Quote:
Why are consumers and publishers being forced to use DRM?
:Unquote

Because, WE (the consumers) let the content providers do it to us. If Ford decided to govern all of it's vehicles down to 80 mph, then it is likely that *very few* people would consent to purchase their vehicles.

Ye...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous

But if Ford restricts it's cars to 80 mph. Then you can go buy a BMW.
The problem is that I can't buy a CD of Madonna* from a different record company.
If the car industry will limit all cars to 80 mph, and you don't have a choise, then there will be still a lot of people buying cars and only a fe...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Tim Donahue

"I would have advised you to send the New Yorker package back to the manufacturer. As long and publishers continue to treat their customers like we are criminals, we need to stop being their customers."

Haven't you read the DRM Licenses that come with things today? My personal favorite one is al...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Harrold

The best solution is to NOT BUY any materials that are protected using such schemes. As he points out, your investment is time limited as well as limited in usefulness. How many times have I already had to pay for a given song as it moved from record, to tape, to CD, to MP3?
...

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When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Anonymous (4 replies)

Good article, but you make 'The big LICENSE mistake' when you state, "You can argue that they're not really buying the content, they're just buying licenses for that content, but that argument, while technically legal, is facile and doesn't take into account how real human beings think."

I really...

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Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Anonymous (3 replies)

You've got good points but the problem is the ease of which your owned good can be exploited to harm others. If it was easy and relatively risk free for people to leave their guns around for others to commit crimes and make money with your gun then it would happen. But it doesn't happen because of...

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Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

quote:
It's the case of the rotten apple. So yeah, DRM exists because people mostly suck and that hurts those people who suck less.
unquote:

Any that, dear reader, is why the content providers are living in poverty rather than having mansions in multiple timezones and driving BMWs. Oh, wait......

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Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

"Any that, dear reader, is why the content providers are living in poverty rather than having mansions in multiple timezones and driving BMWs. Oh, wait......"

Ugh...Dont ruin a good debate by whining about people who have more then you. Work hard. Make money. They are rich because they made a ...

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Re: Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-03
Anonymous (1 replies)

You missed the point.
This commenter is not whining about other's success.
He is saying that the DRM crowd WHINES and says they aren't successful, when in fact they are. Making this observation is not a denial of the fact that content authors deserve to be prosperous.
Proponents of DRM are s...

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-04
OK Mores (1 replies)

So... In your own career, I take it you are not interested in making as much as it is possible for you to make.

I'd like to hire you....

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Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-08
Anonymous

Well, if money could buy happiness ...

maximize profit, disregard law, ... yeah, these are the right rules ... weren't we talking about sucking people ?

I, for myself, HATE to be treated as a potential outlaw needing me to be jailed in advance.
When I buy media, all I want is using it as I ha...

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Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Anonymous

Close but no cigar. In your post you say:

"...as those people do enter the world economy and start demanding their own original copies."

This is wishful thinking. Hello! All those digital "copies" ARE the original. To think of them as "copies" is so last century, dude.

...

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Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-03
Anonymous (1 replies)

Your own example demonstrates the fallacy of your argument. You use the example that an infinite lending tree will result in no new creative works, because there is no value in creating it.

It seems to me that people have been sharing books in exactly this type of fashion for hundreds (thousands?...

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Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-04
OK Mores (1 replies)

Sorry, but you can't possibly be this dumb. You're saying that being able to lend a book out is the same thing as making a million identical clones of it and instantaneously distributing them around the entire solar system? Come on.

You are correct about popularity and awareness being a good th...

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Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-08
Anonymous

why not considering it as radio broadcast ?
when I was young, I recorded hours of music off the radio and listened to the tapes all day long.
Did I harm anyone ? I eventually would buy original tapes and CDs, but years later, when I had the economical power to do so.
If I like an artist, I BUY hi...

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Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Mister Jalopy (2 replies)

I disagree. I don't think you own it. The contract is so restrictive and the DRM so onerous that you really do not get to enjoy it in the same way that you own other things you buy.

Some of the highlights of the End User License agreement:

You are legally allowed to make a copy, but it is pro...

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Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

The original poster was referring to the law: it is quite clear that when you buy a CD or a book you own it outright, you are not licensing the content as they would like. (See wikipedia Fair Use page for legal info). So the author is wrong about this. The EULA will only be valid if a court holds th...

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Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-03
Anonymous

That might be the case state side but in the UK it is possible to just make the terms and conditions of sale available on request. If you don't ask its your problem "Caveat Emptor" buyer beware. ...

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Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-03
Anonymous

You are making the assumption that EULA's are valid. EULAs are 100% invalid throughout the world with the exception of 2 or 3 US states who specifically brought in laws to make EULAs valid.

For a contract to be valid, both parties MUST:
1) see the contract before you give over your money/product...

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Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-03
Anonymous

The Case of Germany: AFAK, you can always check the box "I agree to the EULA", since they do not become part of the contract anyway. You simply do not get them to read BEFORE the purchase, so there are not binding....

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Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-03
Anonymous (1 replies)

When I bought my first record album back in the 60s it consisting of a printed paper folder and inside there was a plastic thing called a long playing record. I probably copied the music from that record onto my reel to reel tape recorder so that I could play the music without wearing out the plast...

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Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-04
OK Mores (2 replies)

Actually, your original purchase of an LP was a limited use license in that the copies you were able to make were analog and each susequent copy degraded the quality (duh). The limited use was a factor of the physical capabilities of analog technology. This was readily apparent to any thinking pers...

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But I definitely *will* be upset when ... 2006-04-13
Anonymous

... I discover that my car refuses to run when I try to fill up with gas from an "un-approved" gas-station. Or that when I'm stranded in the parking lot, no passing motorist is able to give me a cupful of the same gas from his own tank, or allowed to provide a jump-start from his electrical system....

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Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-06
Anonymous (1 replies)

/The LP had a limited life. The digital file does not./

With DRM the digital file has a limited life; probably shorter than the plastic record...
...

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Re: Re: Re: Re: When you buy copyrighted material, you are BUYING IT, not licencing it 2006-03-08
Anonymous

if I take care of my LP, I will be able to enjoy it as long as material will last.
if the DRM provider decides to take back (or reduce) my right to use the DRM'd media, then I'm stuck....

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The good news and the bad news. 2006-03-02
Anonymous

The good news is that the only DRM or other copy control mechanisms that have been widely accepted by the market are ones that don't even make it hard to bypass. iTMS is the perfect example - the player has a _digital_ hole that allows you to create an audio CD that's faithful to the original song y...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous

Very good article....

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Matt UK

Ive stopped buying so many things because the DRM on it, I have no intention to pirate anything I buy but DRM gets in the way and makes the product feel inferior and like I only have it for a short amount of time. I always worry that if the company proving the drm went bust or something I would be ...

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It's even worse than you thought 2006-03-02
Eric M. Berg (1 replies)

I too am a long-time New Yorker subscriber, and I bought a copy of "The Complete New Yorker" when it first became available (Sept. 2005). However, I never even got as far as installing the software on my computer, because of the following provision of the license agreement:

"Collection of Viewin...

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Re: It's even worse than you thought 2006-03-03
Joost

"The New Yorker's general counsel was later quoted in the New York Times (1/16/2006) as saying that "the magazine had no intention of accessing that information, and that user agreements in future releases of the DVD set would not include that provision." "

This only says that they won't mention ...

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No DRM: Magnatune 2006-03-02
Adam Blinkinsop (1 replies)

Bravo - on the non-DRM'd music topic, have you seen http://magnatune.com ?...

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Re: No DRM: Magnatune 2006-04-11
Anonymous

And www.emusic.com, which is all DRM-free MP3's...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous

In case people don't know how to "de-cripple" their iTunes music, google: JHymn
FREEDOM!

I agree with the article whole-heartedly, and I am in the process of converting to Linux because of the reasons you listed.
I have one comment on your writing style, though it doesn't necessarily have anyth...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

Digital Rights Management is an attempt to control the flow of information over the Internet! The biggest problem is the big companies don't want to change their business models. They are stuck back when they could control the hardware, software, and format. Now you can change your computer hardware...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-04
OK Mores

Yes, and your point is? With respect, what is unusual about this? ...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-02
O K Mores (2 replies)

Yeah, you're right. DRM is a pain. We all hate it.

But Scott, with all respect, you are so emabarrassingly wrong in this rant it hurts my eyes to read it. You do not own the text in the New Yorker any more than you own the music on a CD or the "free" television show that's paid for by advert...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-04-13
Anonymous

Apparently, you don't understand the issue either.

Just one example (right off the top of your rant):

While in a certain legal, strict sense it is true that the author of the article does "not own the text in the New Yorker any more than ... the music on a CD...", it is in precisely the sa...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-08
Anonymous

Since when is consumer angst at a substandard product sucking ones thumb? I would have thought that consumers, including this author, have every right to carp and to hold out for content they can "own," regardless of the text of the law. Big content can grease palms in congress all it wants, but i...

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How do you protect your content ?? 2006-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)

It's funny. I started life as an anti DRM proponant.

However, after being in the publishing world and seeing the effort and cost of producing good content, it is natural that people want to protect it.

I am having second thoughts of non DRM products due to the simplicity with which we can cop...

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Re: How do you protect your content ?? 2006-03-03
Anonymous

"However, after being in the publishing world and seeing the effort and cost of producing good content, it is natural that people want to protect it."

If you want to protect it, don't publish it. The only way you can "protect" an idea is to keep it to yourself. You can earn much on it that way, t...

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The big DRM mistake - iTunesU DRM? 2006-03-02
McD

We had a couple of Apple reps come to our college to talk about iTunesU and podcasting. They mentioned that there was no way to sell content via iTunesU. I asked if that meant that there was also no way to use FairPlay DRM on the files we hosted on iTunesU and they said that was correct since the DR...

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Fighting the wrong war 2006-03-03
Frank Csorba (1 replies)

Instead of fighting against DRM, which we may not win, perhaps we should be pushing for laws to force "content" providers to give a "30 day money back guarantee" if the DRM renders your purchase unsuitable for the intended purposes. That way they can have all the DRM they want, but, if it makes the...

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Re: Fighting the wrong war 2006-03-08
Anonymous

smart !
I was thinking about movie theaters.
I want them to refound me if I leave the theater before the movie ends. I mean, if I find the movie sucks, I want to be refouded for the time I will no longer be looking at the movie.
Don't read me wrong, the idea of limited "no questions asked" return...

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Return It 2006-03-03
Josh

Return the DVDs. When they ask why, be honest. "It doesn't work in my computer." Let them send you a replacement. Return that, too. Eventually, if enough consumers get their money back or try to via credit card chargebacks, BBB Complaints, etc. and refuse to accept DRM in any form, it becomes even l...

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iTunesU has no DRM 2006-03-03
Otto

If you had actually downloaded some of the material from iTunes's online college efforts, and taken a closer look at it, you'd realize that it's DRM-free.

Appearantly, somewhere in the latest updates to iTunes, they added the ability for them to "sell" files and not put the DRM onto them. All the...

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It wont stop there 2006-03-03
Anonymous

Yes it is clear that DRM on any media is pointless as long as one person anywhere can defeat it, AND the internet can be used to exchange copies. So as soon as the copyright holders get DRM established, they will focus all this lobbying effort on making arbitrary internet transfers illegal (via pac...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-03
Anonymous

One of the most concise and inciteful looks into this DRM quagmire we seem to be bogged down in. Real people live in communities and as such share infrastructure, communicate thoughts and share info. It's Human Nature to share. DRM is like the child that won't share with the others, it just start...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-03
Anonymous

In the case of low cost media such as downloaded songs, which are circulating on illegal download networks anyway, lowering prices and removing DRM could make more sense than applying DRM and lowring the user base. Low price could reduce the incentive to get the media from illegal sources and increa...

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I thought I was the only 'pariah'... 2006-03-03
Y.C.

I thought I was the only 'pariah' against the current Intellectual Property Laws. I wrote an article voicing similar sentiments on, ironic enough, Valentine's Day (http://www.itechtips.com/2006/02/hbo_and_the_question_of_fa
ir_p.html).

Thanks for your insightful article. It is encouraging to kn...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-03
Anonymous

Well, to listen to 'their' music/movie with a 'license' that I purchased accompanied with CD/DVD, they seem to have installed something on my machine that runs even when I am not listening to their music or watching their movie... Oh, wait, it phones home too, now did they ask my permission to use ...

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Not Disagreeing With You ... 2006-03-04
Anonymous

While I agree with your overall thoughts, it should be noted that itunes does NOT add any DRM to your music. Yes, you need it to add files to your ipod but any music you bring to the ipod is yours in whatever format you started with. It will convert to m4a but NO DRM. Only the tracks you buy from th...

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For God sake, just type it 2006-03-04
Anonymous

I'm tired of hearing all of the whining about not being able to use digital files the way you want. Digital files belong to their authors. Get used to using them the way they want you to...or quit buying them...because you're only paying for the rights the authors are willing to give you.

There w...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-05
bl0rf (1 replies)

I enjoyed this article very much. Could it be time for Mr. Granneman to join the likes of Edward Felten ?

My own view of DRM is that either markets will make it disappear - customers will buy the alternative, UnDRMed media, or DRM will hamper the growth of our society. Which is fair because we br...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-08
Igor M

Very true, I go out and spend an extra pound or two on a proper CD, which I can rip in any format I want for myself, be it for iPod (lower quality encoding) or for listening at home (higher quality), and you always have the original disk, so if you hard disk goes tits up you can always re-encode, wh...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-05
Peej

This DRM thing bothered me since its fetal days. ok ok, so inhibits the proliferation of files being swap and all, but, isnt this is what we call, the dawning end of consumer freedom?
...

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The big DRM mistake - not a problem at all 2006-03-05
Anonymous

DRM is going to be educative. 5 years from now, almos everybody will learn why companies selling products with DRM are to be avoided, and market balance will be restored (by those same companies going broke).

I, for once, don't mind them company dumbheads getting fired. My company doesn't do DRM ...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-06
Anonymous

Somewhere I read that the New Yorker had to prevent the kind of cut and paste that we would like due to some supreme court decision a few years back requiring that freelance writers be compensated in situations similar to this. I only vaguely remember the details, but I really feel the New Yorker on...

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The big DRM mistake 2006-03-08
Anonymous (2 replies)

I disagree with your "take" on fair use. You state that "If I can't copy the text, that makes criticism or comment incredibly onerous, does it not?" No it does not. I have quoted this statement from your article by manually typing it in. By doing this this way, I was NOT prevented from commentin...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-08
Anonymous

"If you are not happy, you have the recourse of not using the content and probably getting your money back!"

Maybe in a perfect world, but the license agreement if in common to most others will state that they will NOT refund money if the software has been opened, lots are blatent in stating they...

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Re: The big DRM mistake 2006-03-10
Anonymous

That license agreemen tis INVALID IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! Get it!

It was to be accepted AFTER you handled over the money, at your loss. Yes that money instead of working for you until you agreed to a license, is now working for somebody else (interest rates, etc). So yes The EULA is illegal....

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Apple's big DRM mistake 2006-03-08
Anonymous

This amused me...
>Apple's successful iTunes Music Store, in
>addition to forcing users to accept a ...
> ... system called "FairPlay" (using Orwellian
>language to mask what you're doing is double-plus
>ungood, Apple).
...remembering Apple's "big spash" advert in late 83 / early 84 that ...

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